Barroso Commission
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The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 31 October 2009. Its president is José Manuel Durão Barroso, former Prime Minister of Portugal, who presides over 26 other commissioners (one from each state).
The Barroso Commission was originally set to take office on 1 November 2004. However, strong opposition from the European Parliament towards the first proposed composition of the Barroso Commission forced Barroso, as President-designate, to withdraw his proposed line-up without submitting it to a vote of approval on that date. A revised Commission was finally approved by Parliament on 18 November (449 votes in favour, 149 against and 82 abstentions).
With Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the European Union, the Commission was expanded to 27 Commissioners (up until 2007 the college had 25 Commissioners). Due to this large size Barroso has adopted a more presidential style of leadership to gain control, which has earned him some criticism.
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[edit] Membership
- The Secretary-General for this term was Catherine Day, appointed in 2005.
[edit] Summary by political leanings
The colour of the row indicates the approximate political leaning of the office holder using the following scheme:
| Affiliation | Right leaning (EPP-ED) | Centre (ALDE) | Left leaning (PES) | Independent |
| Number | Nine | Eight | Six | Four |
[edit] The Commissioners
[edit] First proposed composition
The first announced list of portfolio holders was announced by President-designate Barroso on 12 August, but failed to be approved by the European Parliament. The difference between the first proposed composition and the final one were the following:
- Rocco Buttiglione (of Italy) was proposed as Vice-President, and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, instead of Franco Frattini
- Ingrida Udre (of Latvia) was proposed as a commissioner instead of Andris Piebalgs; she was to be responsible for Taxation and Customs Union, which in the final composition became the portfolio of László Kovács.
- László Kovács (of Hungary) was proposed as Commissioner for Energy.
Hearings before the committees of the European Parliament questioned the suitability of several of the candidates; a dispute broke out over Rocco Buttiglione's reported views on homosexuality and women, and the committees also found fault with
- László Kovács, for insufficient professional competence in the energy field
- Neelie Kroes, for insufficient detailed grasp of certain specific subjects
- Mariann Fischer-Boel, for insufficient determination to defend European farmer's interests, and an unwillingness to enter into a dialogue with the parliament
- Ingrida Udre, over allegations of irregularities in the funding of her political party
The most controversial proposed commissioner was Buttiglione. Though he had the support of the European People's Party (the largest of the European Parliament party groups), the Socialists and the Liberals refused to vote for a commission that retained Buttiglione with the justice portfolio.
With rejection by the European Parliament seeming likely, on 27 October 2004, Barroso withdrew his proposal for the new commission. Later Italy's government announced its withdrawal of Buttiglione as designate commissioner, nominating Franco Frattini in his place. At Barroso's request, Latvia's government likewise withdrew Ingrida Udre, nominating Andris Piebalgs in her place. Andris Piebalgs had previously served as chef de cabinet to Sandra Kalniete, Latvia's member of the Prodi Commission. Lastly Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs was moved to the taxation and customs position.
[edit] Barrot scandal
Barroso's Commission faced another scandal when, shortly before the Commission entered office, it was revealed by United Kingdom Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage that Jacques Barrot, the commissioner from France, had been convicted of fraud in 2000. After this, Barrot had received a presidential amnesty from Jacques Chirac, making it illegal in France to even mention his conviction. Members of the Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament urged Barroso to suspend Barrot from the Commission for failing to disclose his conviction during the confirmation period. Barrot has been a commissioner since January 2000, having served as Commissioner for Regional Policy under Romano Prodi.
[edit] 2007 Enlargement
Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU on 1 January 2007 and each were granted a Commissioner (increasing the college to 27 members).
To accommodate them Consumer Protection was split from the Health & Consumer Protection and given to Bulgarian, Meglena Kuneva. The portfolio had a warm reception for being large and popular.
Romania originally proposed Senator Varujan Vosganian, however he quickly met with opposition from Socialist MEPs for having no "European profile" among other things. That nomination was replaced by Leonard Orban and he was given the portfolio of Multilingualism. This however was met a cool reception for being such a slim portfolio. MEP Martin Schulz (PES) suggested it should instead focus on ethnic minorities but this was rejected by Barroso.
Both were approved by the Parliament on 12 December 2007 by large majorities.
Due to the large size of the Commission Barroso has adopted a more presidential style of leadership compared to some previous Presidents, which has earned him some criticism.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Members of the Barroso Commission
- Photo of the Members of the European Commission presided by José Manuel Durão Barroso European NAvigator
| Preceded by Prodi Commission |
European Commission | Succeeded by -- |
